USMC Scout Sniper

Silent in action, but deadly in the end. This is the shooter of my newest sniper team. I have the spotter coming up later, and I’ll take them outside as a team for upcoming photos. He has the basic Hasbro ghillie suit, with some add-ons and improvements. 

Scout-snipers infiltrate silently and very inconspicuously, moving slowly,  making no noise, and blending in completely with their environments. Oftentimes they don’t go out to make a kill, but when they do, one shot is all it takes. They strike from far away and blend back into their surroundings. On missions where they don’t shoot, they often do scouting of enemy strength and numbers, supply routes, defenses, terrain, and so forth, and after calling in the required info, they provide fire support for friendly troops.

Boom!

Sometimes, you can put a lot of planning into a shot, and you still may not get what you want. You can try different poses and setups, vehicle placement, and so forth, and you still might not get it.

Other times, things just kinda happen by accident. You can snap several pics, and you can get one or two that are at least as good as, or better than you were hoping for.

That’s what happened here...

I wanted to make it look like a Stuart tank was hit with a Panzerfaust. I didn’t have any smoke bombs, and it was after July 4, so no Texas fireworks sellers were open. I decided to improvise.

I took a piece of paper towel that was about 2 inches by 3 inches. I put around 50 grains of FFFg black powder into it, rolled it into a pouch, and rolled a small streamer off of the front of the wrap. I placed the tank, put my powder pouch about a foot away from it, got down in the grass to tank level, lit the streamer, and snapped away with my iPhone.

I ended up taking close to 50 photos. I was lucky. I got 2 that were excellent. I was willing to keep trying, but the first attempt was a success.

Check out the smoke detail in the second photo! By the way, there was no damage, even though in the photo, it looks like a devastating hit!

Here’s another confused paratrooper...

Most people would think this is an extremely high quality figure. He’s not. He would be, but there are three glaringly obvious errors. 

First, if he’s going into Normandy, he wouldn’t have his paratrooper aid kit tied to his helmet. That came later.

Second, he’s dressed and equipped for Normandy, but the parachute he’s wearing wasn’t put into US service until Market Garden. 

Third, he’s carrying a Carbine, but he has a Griswold Bag. The Griswold Bag was used to carry a disassembled M1 Garand.

I don’t mean to sound overly critical. I’m not. This figure should be able to be purchased in the $50-$60 range. You could buy him at that price, and leave him “close”. Or you could buy him and spend another $30-$40 to make him right. 

However, he’s listed for nearly $150 plus shipping. If you have that money to spend, buy one of the quality kit figures from Dragon, put him together, and make him yours. Stay away from spring-sprung. 

Stay away from this seller!

spring-sprung is an eBay seller who supposedly sells highly customized figures. He has hundreds of them listed, and some have been sold to people in other countries.

His figures aren’t that good. 

They are over-priced, and often are only box figures with a pack of  cigarettes added. Sometimes, the things done to them are just plain wrong.

This figure has a serious identity crisis. He’s not sure if he’s jumping into Normandy or Holland. Aside from the fact that a paratrooper wouldn’t wear a white silk scarf into battle, what is on his helmet?

It’s true that during Market Garden, some troopers tied their paratrooper aid kit to their helmet. While many figure crafters also do it for Normandy, that is an inaccuracy. It wasn’t done then, and any figures showing it are historically incorrect.

However, this figure has his regular aid kit tied to his helmet. Why? That kit, or one similar to it,  was issued to every soldier. It had hooks on it, and was made to fasten to the grommets on the Pistol, cartridge, or BAR belt. I make a bold statement. No trooper ever wore it that way.

You’ve been warned. Stay away from this guy. There are better figures out there that cost a lot less.

D-Day Normandy 75th Anniversary

It’s coming in a week. Stay tuned here for some recreations of historic photos in 1/6 scale. It should be fun. So far, these are the three I’ll be doing;